Titans Sweep Storm, Beat Bears In Five Sets At WashU Invite
ST. LOUIS- The UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team earned a sweep of Simpson College and a five-set win over Washington University in St. Louis in the first day of the WashU Invitational on Friday (Oct. 13).
After a sweep of Simpson College (Iowa) (6-16, 2-2 A-R-C) in the first match on Friday (Oct. 13), the No. 2 nationally ranked UW-Oshkosh women's volleyball team (24-0, 4-0 WIAC) fought back from a 2-0 set deficit to defeat Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) (15-6, 4-1 UAA) for the first time in program history.
The Titans cruised to a win in the first match over Simpson in set scores of 25-7, 25-17 and 25-16.
Oshkosh hit .459 in the match and held the Storm to just .054. It also held the edge in kills at 43 to 26, assists at 37 to 26 and held Simpson block-less while recording five of its own.
Riley Kindt (Sr. • Brookfield), who ended the night with 30 kills, led all players with 12 in the match. She owned a kill percentage of .625 on 16 total attacks. Kalli Mau (Sr. • Kimberly) and Izzy Coon (So. • Fond du Lac) each recorded 17 assists and Riley Dahlquist (So. • Sussex) led the team with four blocks.
After the Storm scored the first point of the match, the Titans went on a 6-0 tear and took the lead for the first and last time of the set. Simpson scored twice in a row once in the set and Oshkosh added two spurts of five points during the set and a four-point run to finish it off.
The Titans again went on a run after a Storm opening point, this time four-in-a-row and again for the final lead of a set. Simpson strung together two-point spurts multiple times, however Oshkosh strung together three runs of at least three points to keep the Storm at arm's length.
Maddy Pearson and Riley Dahlquist started the scoring in the third set with a block and Oshkosh stretched its lead out to as much as nine points before winning the third set, and earning the 13th sweep of the season, by eight points.
The Titans faced off against WashU, another nationally ranked program in the second match of the night for the Bears' Cancer Awareness Night. Heading into the matchup, Oshkosh was 0-15 all-time against the Bears and picked up their first win over the program in dramatic fashion with set scores of 25-27, 23-25, 25-19, 27-25, 15-8.
Oshkosh once again held the edge in hitting percentage (.224-.151), kills (79-53), assists (76-50) while the Bears owned a one block lead over the Titans at nine to eight.
Dahlquist was the kills leader among all players in the second match with 19, just beating out Kindt for the top spot (18). The two top hitters registered hitting percentages of .350 on 40 total attacks and .286 on 35, respectively. Mau notched 31 assists and was followed by Coon with 29. Coon also led everyone on the court with 22 digs, followed by Abby Fregien (Jr. • Waukesha) with 18 of her own.
WashU scored the first three points of the match and later extended their lead to 16-10 with a five-point run. Oshkosh remained in the set, never letting the deficit reach more than five points and even took it to a 25-24 match point serve before the Bears won on two kills and an attack error.
The second set was very similar to the first. The Bears took an early lead they held for much of the set and the Titans stayed alive with short spurts, including a 6-1 run to make the score 24-23. WashU again won the set, this time on a kill.
Oshkosh came out of the gates swinging, owning the lead in the third set the entire time. The lead reached 16-6 at the end of an 8-point run that included three Dahlquist kills. Six consecutive WashU points decreased the lead to four points, but the Titans held the lead through a series of sideouts. Robyn Kirsch (Jr. • Wausau) started the final run of three points on a saved block and kill to make the score 23-19.
In the fourth set, the Bears scored five-straight for a 10-5 lead that they later extended to 16-8 on a six-point spurt. Oshkosh immediately responded with an eight kill, 11-3 run that featured three kills from Kindt and two from Dahlquist to tie the set up at 19-19. Each team then scored three points in a row and scored another three over six serves to tie the set up at 25-25 and send the second of the night to go to extra points. A Bear attack error set up set point for the Titans and Maddy Pearson (Sr. • Kimberly) delivered with a huge kill.
Oshkosh went to the fifth set for the third time of the season on Friday night. After WashU took a 6-5 lead, the Titans scored four consecutively to grab the final lead of the night. Amelia Hust (Sr. • Verona) ended the reverse sweep comeback with two aces.
"We've talked all season about taking pride in our ability to respond to challenges and we surely did that tonight," head coach Jon Ellmann said after the match. "We played hard and did so with grit; we battled. I couldn't be more proud of our response tonight against a very talented and well coached WashU squad."
The Titans will face DePauw University (Ind.) and Illinois Wesleyan in the second day of the WashU Invitational at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 a.m., respectively.